Many different races are constantly fighting for control of the galaxy in Warhammer 40,000. One thing has dominated everything for millions of years and is now almost insignificant: the Eldar. MeinMMO explains who these strange space elves are and how they came to be almost extinct today.
Eldar are technically the oldest race still alive today. The only known races that came before them are the Slann, or simply “the Old Ones”, and the Necrontyr – who later became the feared Necrons.
The Eldar, or formerly in their own language: Aeldari, are humanoid beings that appear roughly human, but with noticeably softer and finer features. They look something like how we imagine elves today. Just like humans, Eldar in Warhammer are highly psychic beings.
Despite their similarity, Eldar are built significantly differently. Their bodies make them faster, movements smoother and at the same time more resilient. This comes with the disadvantage that they take significantly longer to reproduce.
With their vast technological advances and psionic power, the Eldar eventually came to dominate the entire galaxy. However, their rule lasted so long that they perished because of their own decadence.
Yrliet is an Eldari that you can meet in the role-playing game Rogue Trader:
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader – The trailer for the companions in the role-playing game
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An empire that spans the entire galaxy
After the Slann were wiped out in the great “War in Heaven” and the Necrons fell into their 60 million year slumber, the Eldar have expanded across the galaxy.
Even before this long time, the Aeldari were a well-developed species that could drive out “lower races” without any major problems. Various sources speak of an empire that is said to have encompassed either tens of thousands or even tens of millions of systems.
Other species, such as the orcs and their predecessor species, were simply driven to the edge of the galaxy and ignored. In the Eldar language, humans are simply called “Chem-Pan-Sey” (or in English: “Mon-keigh” – you can guess what that means).
Your own parallel dimension and your own paradise
In order to be able to move around such a huge empire, the Eldar use the “Network of a Thousand Gates”, or simply: “Network of Paths.” This network is a labyrinth in which the Eldar can move at faster than light speeds, without ever leaving the warp having to enter.
Over the many millions of years, the Eldar continued to expand their empire and eventually automated chores such as farming and other hard work. This resulted in dozens of paradise worlds where the people could live in complete decadence.
However, this is exactly what led to an excess that at some point exceeded the limits of what was imaginable and led to the fall of the entire empire.
Eldar the Wraithguard as Warhammer figures
Decadence and Fall of the Aeldari
In principle, what we know from Roman decadence happened to the Aeldari Empire: the Eldar simply gave in to their lusts, and more and more so. But it wasn’t just about harmless things like gluttony and sex, but also about torture and sadism.
Shortly before the collapse, the streets of the Aeldari cities were no longer safe because a murderer could be lurking everywhere, just waiting for a victim to make suffer. The worlds have fallen into anarchy and gangs have fought for control.
A few “sensible” Eldar have fled to start a new life on Exodite worlds. However, the decadence of the people in their core worlds has resulted in what is probably the greatest catastrophe in the history of Warhammer 40,000.
The excess of the Eldar creates a new Chaos God
Since Eldar have strong psychic powers, their connection to the Warp, the realm of chaos, is extremely strong. However, this was not a problem until before the event that is now known as the “Fall of the Aeldari”.
However, due to the large accumulation of obsession and decadence in one place, a new chaos god has emerged from the accumulated psionic power: Slaanesh, the chaos god of decadence.
Slaanesh’s birth was so brutal that his psionic scream is said to have killed several trillion Eldar. Their souls were torn from their bodies and have been tortured by Slaanesh ever since.
It is said that if a human’s soul is a spark in the Warp, an Eldar’s is like a beacon to which all demons immediately rush. To prevent this from happening, the Eldar protect their souls with soulstones that capture their essence at the moment of death.
Eldar, Warp and the Gods: Before the Fall, Eldar souls were more or less safe in the Warp. The Aeldari had their own pantheon of gods who protected them – for the most part. However, Slaanesh has slaughtered all but two of the gods:
The end of one people is the rise of a new one
Due to Slaanesh’s birth, part of realspace was torn apart and merged with the Warp. This area is now known as the “Eye of Terror” and is home to Chaos Cultists and Daemon Princes.
However, this event also caused the dangerous warp storms to disappear from the galaxy. This allowed the Emperor of Mankind to finally lead his Great Crusade.
As a result, the Empire of Mankind found unity in the first place and is now the greatest power in the galaxy, at least for now.
A dying people postponing their death
The few surviving Eldar have mostly retreated to world ships, most of which are now stuck somewhere lost. Due to their small and dwindling numbers, Eldar stay out of most conflicts.
They only fight when their council of rune prophets and seers decides, after a very long consultation, that it is worth fighting. However, many Eldar still live on Exordite worlds and lead a relatively primitive life of farming and livestock farming.
So that they do not become overwhelmed by emotions again and thus potentially attract chaos, Eldar now follow “paths”, i.e. callings to which they are fully committed.
The last Eldar who still follow the “old ways”, i.e. decadence and excess, are the Dark Eldar or Drukhari. This part of the Aeldari has survived in the network of paths in the great city of Comorragh and persists in torture, sadism and brutality.
A relatively new and small splinter group of the Eldar are the Ynnari, who believe they can resurrect the death god Ynneach, just as their people accidentally did to Slaanesh. By the way, you can get an exciting insight into the culture of the Eldar and the Drukhari in the role-playing game Rogue Trader, which became really good with the first DLC: The role-playing game for Warhammer 40k on Steam gives me as a fan exactly what I miss in Space Marine 2